Burning
by Iwillbelieveit
Summary: A fire when Zoe was eight left her scarred and traumatised. Eight years later, her friends don't know about the scars that mark her body or nightmares that plague her sleep. But after a mission involving a fake missile and a flamethrower that goes horribly wrong, they're soon going to find out . . .
1. Beginnings

**Hey guys! I know that I should really be focusing my energy on _Collision _right now, but if any of you have checked my bio lately, you'll know that I've got heaps of stories going on in this insane head of mine. So I'm going to be updating both this and _Collision. _This story is told in Third Person, instead of in First Person, like my other stories are. Enjoy! **

* * *

If you were just a random person off the street, you wouldn't think that she was anything but normal. She was so happy, so radiant, so full of lifethat it was almost impossible to guess that she'd grown up in a place as horrible as SKUL. Even to her friends, she seemed so normal that sometimes they just forgot about environment she had grown up in. It had never been discussed, between the four of them, what growing up in SKUL was like for her, although she and Dan had come close once when she'd gone over to his house to watch _The Walking Dead _with him.

Secretly, Zoe was glad that her friends had never asked her about what living at SKUL had been like, because then she'd be forced to tell them about the accident that still terrified her, a whole eight years later.

The accident that she would never, ever forget.

* * *

Zoe heard someone yell her name and she turned in time to see Dan skid to a halt in front of her. She grinned up at him, subconsciously rubbing her right arm.

Dan frowned, but the facial expression gone almost as soon as it appeared. "We still on for tomorrow night?"

"What's tomorrow night?" Zoe asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"My house. To watch movies. Like we do every Wednesday night." Dan replied, raising one golden eyebrow and smirking.

"Sorry." Zoe said. "Yeah, we are. I'm just . . . I'm distracted."

Dan nodded, his smirk leaving his mouth. He ducked his head and whispered in her ear, "Mastermind?"

When he pulled back, Zoe simply nodded miserably at him. It had only been a week since what happened at Sternum and Zoe couldn't seem to get what had happened, what had _nearly _happened out of her head. When she wasn't thinking about Sternum, she was thinking about _the _accident. The fear from both occurrences was so strong that she found herself unable to focus on anything else for more than a few minutes at a time. This included Dan. There had once been a time, not too long ago, that she could sit and dream and fantasise about the blonde for hours on end. Now, she couldn't do it for much longer than a few minutes. More than anything, she wanted to tell him how the idea of someone else parading around in her body, using it as they pleased – _especially _when that someone was Mastermind, of all people – made her want to curl up in a ball in a corner and remain there until all that was left of her was a pile of ashes that used to be her bones and muscle and skin and hair. She wanted to tell him how horrible living at SKUL had been, just so that she could say that someone _knew._

Dan smiled sympathetically at her, but he didn't know what else to do or say to make her feel better. When he'd tried asking his older sister what he could do (he didn't tell her why Zoe was upset, of course), she just told Dan to be there for Zoe. Well, that wasn't good enough for Dan. He liked to be actively doing something. His parents had speculated, on countless occasions, on whether or not he had ADHD, but one of the tell-tale signs of that was being unable to complete schoolwork. Even though he didn't get straight A's, like Zoe did, he did get decent grades and he did complete all of his work. Dan started to say something, but then he saw the small red light flashing insistently out of the corner of his eye. He pulled out his pencil and then shoved it back into his pocket. His gaze locked onto Zoe's and she smiled. It was a true, genuine smile that came with the knowledge that she was about to do something that would make a positive difference in the world.

* * *

Tom was still talking about the news that the Blade Quest books were being adapted into movies when they walked into HQ. Dan was trying to ignore Tom's enthusiasm as best as he could, Aneisha was kind of listening, while Zoe was listening intently to Tom, smiling at how little it took to make him happy.

Frank was standing in front of the screen, waiting patiently for the team to stop talking. Dan caught Frank's serious look and elbowed Tom in the ribs, whose jaw shut with a loud click. Suddenly, the tour teens' undivided attention was directed towards Frank. Frank swiped his hand through the air in front of the screen and immediately an image was displayed of a seemingly abandoned office block.

"This building, obviously, was abandoned about five years ago. In the past month or so, there has been a significant amount of activity."

"Maybe someone may have just bought it in hopes of using for something." Zoe said. Dan smiled at her, but the smile disappeared almost as soon as he saw Frank's expression.

"Yes, maybe someone bought in hopes of using it to manufacture a missile." Frank said. His hand cut through the air again and this time, an x-ray photograph of the building was displayed. There were several rooms and corridors in the way, but it blindingly obvious that there was a half-finished missile inside the building.

"Oh shit." Dan whispered, his sapphire eyes widening significantly.

Frank nodded. "Sneak in, disarm the missile and return to the rendezvous point, where you will be picked up for collection. If they are manufacturing a missile, you live to tell the tale. Make sure you seen by _no one_."

"How are we going to disarm a missile?"

"I can do it." Zoe said softly, glancing at Dan.

Frank nodded. "And Tom will guide you through it."

Dan, Zoe and Aniesha nodded. As they walked into the lift, Dan fought the urge to tell Zoe that maybe it wasn't such a good idea that she came with them. She could defend herself, there was no doubt about that, but she was distracted and KORPS were already after her but Dan didn't say anything. He was quite fond of his arms as they were.

* * *

"You remember what Frank said." Aneisha said, keeping her voice low. "Sneak in, disarm and then _get out._"

"And fast." Dan added. "This could get really bad."

Zoe nodded and pulled the door open. She expected alarms to go off, but they didn't. Casting a curious glance towards Dan and Aneisha, she slipped inside. She heard the door shut quietly behind her and then, carefully, the three teens started moving through the _abandoned _office block. It was the populated abandoned office block any of the teens had seen and they were almost constantly hiding from KORPS agents.

"This has KORPS written all over it." Dan whispered into Zoe's ear as they reached the door that hopefully led into the room that held the missile. Zoe shivered at the feel of his warm breath wafting across the back of her neck, but she ignored the feelings that the blonde stirred within her. Now was not the time. They had a job to do. A very serious job.

"Ladies first." Dan whispered, pushing the door open. Aneisha gave him a mock-glare before walking in and gasping. Zoe padded in after her and Dan moved to stand behind them once he'd shut the door.

"Are you sure this is the right room?" Aneisha asked.

"Positive." Zoe replied.

Before anyone could answer, they heard Frank's voice over their headsets.

"_Team, what's going on? What's happening?"_

Dan sighed heavily and pressed the earpiece, settled into his right ear. "Nothing's happening, Frank. There's nothing here."

Suddenly, everything clicked in Dan's head. KORPS had failed to get what they want from Zoe at Sternum and now, only a week later, they had a mission to disarm a missile that didn't exist. That couldn't be a coincidence.

"It's a set-up." Dan breathed. Both girls spun to look at him, realisation suddenly spreading across their faces.

"A set-up for what?" Aneisha asked. Zoe stared at Dan as she waited for him to answer. Her eyes were wide and shone with sparkling tears, as if they were saying, _Please don't say it. Please don't say it. Please don't say it._

"To get Zoe." Dan said quietly, looking sadly at Zoe. The girl's face fell but then when she looked up again, her jaw was set in stone and her eyes were fierce.

"They can't have me." Zoe said. Her voice was strong and Dan smiled. Before he could think of a way out without going back the way they'd come, someone grabbed the back of his jacket and yanked him backwards.

"Dan!" Zoe and Aneisha screamed, pitching forward towards him. Dan twisted and managed to get his right arm free, catching a glimpse of a KORPS uniform in the process. He elbowed the KORPS agent in the face and he grunted, letting Dan go. Dan stumbled forward towards the girls, turning on his heel as another KORPS agent came in, carrying something that slightly resembled a rifle, but at the same time, didn't.

Dan cursed under his breath and readied to dive out of the way. It was a flamethrower.

As soon as Zoe saw the flamethrower, she felt fear rise up in her chest, threatening to paralyse her. As flames shot out from the device, Dan threw himself to the floor and Zoe followed suit, pulling Aneisha down with her. As she did, the sleeve of her jacket of raked up, revealing the bright yellow lettering on her arm. The KORPS agent on the floor's face suddenly flashed with recognition and he twisted, slamming his foot into his colleague's shin. The flamethrower stopped erupting flames and Dan got to his feet, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the KORPS agents.

"What?" The one with the flamethrower asked.

"Don't kill them!" His colleague replied. "That's the girl the Master wants – V95. And Crime Minister wants the boy too."

Zoe felt her blood run cold as she heard that. It was one thing to want her, but Dan too? She always seemed to pull other people into her problems and this was no exception.

"Where'd they go?" The KORPS agent without the flamethrower asked, getting to his feet. Both men looked towards the door on the other side of the room, which was just swinging closed. Dan, Zoe and Aneisha were gone.


	2. Event

"_Where'd they go?" The KORPS agent without the flamethrower asked, getting to his feet. Both men looked towards the door on the other side of the room, which was just swinging closed. _

_Dan, Zoe and Aneisha were gone._

* * *

"Go, go, go!" Dan shouted, pushing Zoe and Aneisha in front of him up the stairs. "Run, run, run!"

"We're going!" Aneisha shouted back, pumping her arms in hopes that she'd run faster.

"Just shut up and run!" Dan shouted back, almost slipping as they reached a landing.

"Hey!"

Dan skidded to a stop and turned, immediately regretting the decision. The KORPS agent who'd used the flamethrower on them was standing below him, the flamethrower again in hand. As the erupting flames licked through the air towards Dan, he took off running after the girls. They soon found a door and they quickly opened it and went through, closing it quickly behind them. Zoe pressed her ear against the wooden door, listening to the KORPS agents run past. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to Dan and Aneisha, watching her with expectant expressions.

"They're gone, for now." Zoe told them. "We've got about five minutes tops."

She finally allowed herself to take in her surroundings. They were standing on a balcony, suspended about six metres above the earth. Below them, there was a large lake filled with cool-looking water.

"I don't see any other way out." Dan said, joining Zoe at the railing.

"Are you insane?" Zoe hissed at him.

"A little bit." Dan replied, climbing over the railing.

"We'll never survive." Aneisha protested.

"Look, do you see any other way out?" Dan asked. "If we jump into there, KORPS won't bother coming to look for us because they'll think we've died."

"Or we actually have died." Aneisha replied, crossing her arms.

Dan glanced between the two girls and Zoe watched the movement that his eyes made. He was scared, she realised. He didn't want to jump into that lake – he didn't know how deep or rocky it was, but the alternative scared him so much more. He didn't want to die and he didn't want to lose Zoe.

Suddenly a memory flashed in Zoe's mind, of herself and Dan, Tom and Aneisha in the bunker underneath MI9 HQ. She'd thought that the pile of rubbish was more than it seemed and when the others had shaken it off, Dan had told them to trust her.

Zoe took a deep breath and raised her green eyes to Dan's blue ones. "You trusted me once."

Dan nodded as Zoe's fingers curled and loosened on the railing nervously. "And now I have to trust you."

Zoe carefully clambered over the railing beside Dan, gripping onto the metal for dear life.

"Aneisha?" Dan asked.

Aneisha sighed. "Someone's got to say 'I told you so' when you two are in hospital, don't they?"

As she carefully climbed over the railing so she was standing beside Zoe, Dan said, "To be fair, you'd be in hospital too."

Aneisha threw him an annoyed look and the blonde laughed.

"On three, yeah?" Dan asked. Both girls nodded and Dan started counting.

"One, two, three!"

* * *

Zoe was the first to break the surface. She'd pulled her earpiece out on the way down, so that they wouldn't be electrocuted when they hit the water. She knew that Dan and Aneisha had done the same, because Dan's had scraped her leg as he threw it and she'd seen Aneisha's fly off to the right.

Zoe suddenly realised that Dan and Aneisha hadn't emerged yet.

"Dan? Aneisha?" Zoe squeaked, pushing her hair out of her face. She heard the unmistakeable splashing sound of someone breaking the surface and she turned in time to see Aneisha emerge. Zoe smiled, but Dan was still down there.

"Dan?" Zoe cried, fear again rising in her chest. She couldn't lose him. Of all the people that she could lose, he was _not_ one of them.

Zoe glanced down at the water and saw Dan's blonde hair through the surprisingly clear water. She took a deep breath and then dived down. As she did, Dan moved, drawing his legs up and pushing towards the surface. She pushed up and Dan and Zoe broke the surface at the same time.

The three teens swam towards the shore, their clothes saturated and their bodies shivering violently.

"The rendezvous." Dan gasped out as they crawled onto the grass.

"Just give me a sec." Aneisha replied.

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we get warm." Zoe pointed out. Aneisha threw Zoe an annoyed look, but they got up and started moving, quickly but quietly, towards where they knew the van was. Just as Dan's fingers reached the door, it slid across, revealing Frank standing there, looking annoyed, worried and relieved, all in the same expression. Neither of them, including Frank, knew how that was possible, but somehow - it was.

"Jesus Christ. What happened to you when we lost contact?"

"Warm first." Aneisha whispered, her teeth chattering. "Then talk."

Zoe didn't even bother to speak – she was shivering the most out of the three. Frank sighed and stepped aside and Aneisha climbed in, followed by Zoe and then Dan climbed in last, pulling the door back across after him.

"Here." Tom said and dumped three thick blankets in Zoe's lap. Zoe immediately wrapped one around herself as tightly as she could. As Dan grabbed one and wrapped it around himself, he brushed his fingers across Zoe's cheek, as if it were an accidental gesture. She didn't feel that much colder than he did, so why was she shivering so much?

Dan's first thought was that maybe the girl was going into shock. But even though she was shivering violently, she still looked alert and she knew exactly what was going on around her.

As Aneisha started explaining what had happened, Dan draped his arm around Zoe's shaking shoulders. She gave him a grateful smile – she was shivering less now, only her legs bouncing up and down on the floor of the van as Dan and Aneisha recounted what had happened.

When they had finished, Zoe was no longer shivering but she had a haunted look in her eyes that scared Dan. It took a lot to scare him – he could watch hours upon hours of zombie and horror movies and his only reaction was to laugh at blood and gore. He could face down countless numbers of KORPS agents without feeling a flicker of fear, he even enjoyed it - he loved the feeling of adrenaline pumping through his veins after a fight. He wouldn't have felt afraid, facing down that KORPS agent with the flamethrower, if Zoe's life hadn't been endangered. Dan knew, for a fact, that it had to take a lot for Zoe to look like that, for her to be so scared.

Dan suddenly remembered the look of pure terror that had erupted in Zoe's eyes the moment that the flamethrower was brought into the picture. Somehow, he knew that the look wasn't just a vague fear of fire because it was common knowledge that flames were fire and they were hot and if you touched it, you'd get a nasty burn.

Dan frowned as he watched Zoe, who was now curled up asleep beside him. Somehow, he knew that an important event in her childhood hadn't been told to him.


	3. Flames

**Hey guys! Basically, I've hit a point in _Collision _where I know where I want to go with it, I just don't know how to get there. Basically, I've got writer's block. I've decided that I'm going to leave it for a bit until after Christmas. Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter and please read and review! I love hearing what you guys think! :)**

* * *

_Dan frowned as he watched Zoe, who was now curled up asleep beside him. Somehow, he knew that an important event in her childhood hadn't been told to him._

* * *

Dan didn't get a chance to ask Zoe about her reaction to the flamethrower until lunch the next day. He was watching Zoe and Aneisha sitting at the table with Byron, the three laughing and joking around. Dan had told Tom about his suspicions surrounding Zoe's reaction to the flamethrower and now the brunette slapped Dan on the shoulder. "Go get her."

"First off, I'm asking her about fire, not asking her out. And second, you know nothing about 'going and getting' anything." Dan told him, raising one golden eyebrow.

"Then show me how it's done." Tom replied.

"Asshole." Dan said, punching Tom in the stomach. The blow was much softer than Tom expected and yet he doubled over.

"Hey guys." Dan said. Byron stopped playing whatever ridiculously stupid song that he was making up on the spot in order to impress Zoe, looking up at Dan with a raised eyebrow. Dan and Byron had always been anything but close, and Dan didn't usually approach Zoe when she was with Byron, So if Dan was approaching Zoe now, all four teens involved knew it had be pretty important.

"Zoe." Dan said. The redhead smiled up at him and anyone would think that she was genuinely happy or amused. But Dan wasn't anyone. He knew her better than he knew himself and he knew that there was still something genuinely bothering her. "Can I talk to you?"

Zoe nodded, but she didn't move.

"Alone." Dan said. The smile drained from Zoe's face and she stood, trailing after Dan as he led her inside the school building. Glancing around discreetly to make sure that no one was watching, Dan pressed his thumb against the biometric panel underneath the light switch outside the broom cupboard. He slid it back across with one hand, opening the door with the other. As Zoe walked in and he followed, he couldn't help thinking about what the school was going to think about the two of them disappearing into the broom cupboard. They'd probably all think that they'd gone in there to make out, since the 'Romeo and Juliet' thing had rubbed off onto the rest of the school, except for Melissa, of course. Every time the brunette heard the names 'Romeo' and 'Juliet' in a sentence with Dan and Zoe, her face would go red with fury and she'd storm off in a huff. It was actually quite amusing to watch.

When the lift stopped and opened, Zoe stepped out first. Dan let his eyes graze over Zoe's appearance, the way her jeans clung to shape of her legs, the way her jacket settled around her. Suddenly, Dan made himself snap out of it. They were down here for a reason. Not so he could gawk at how much more justice her MI9 did her over her school uniform.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Zoe asked, turning to face him. Dan walked through into one of the adjoining rooms of HQ. Most of the others didn't know about them, because they weren't as paranoid as Dan could be. When he'd first been recruited by MI9, he'd scouted out all of HQ, so if, for whatever reason, enemy agents broke in, he'd have the upper hand. Now, he led Zoe into a room that looked like a dark living room. There was a white couch up against the wall, but the lights lining the walls cast a strange, green glow across everything so it made it look green. Dan gestured towards it and Zoe sat down, crossing her legs. Dan sat beside her, his hands folded in his lap.

"Zo, how scared were you of that flamethrower yesterday?"

Zoe felt her heart sink. Of all the conversations she wanted to have with him, this was not one of them. Honestly, she'd rather discuss makeup than her reaction to fire and flames. She really wanted to curl up in a ball and hide from him, but she didn't. The only reason he didn't know already was because he had been so sensitive towards the subject that was her difficult upbringing. Zoe took a deep breath and shrugged out of her jacket, leaving it sitting on the couch beside her. Dan watched her movements with curious eyes, completely fixated on the beautiful girl beside him. Zoe turned so her back was facing him and before she lost her nerve, she reached for the hem of the black tank top she was wearing, pulling it over her head and placing it on top of her jacket. She shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold air that always seemed to be circulating around HQ. She was shivering because no boy had ever seen her without her shirt on – especially not one as gorgeous as Dan.

"Oh God." Dan whispered, reaching out and gently tracing the scars that marked her skin – harsh and angry and violent. To him, the scars would fit better if they were on his own body – the marks didn't match her personality at all. She was such a trusting, beautiful creature, that it didn't seem right, didn't seem fair for scars like that to be scratched into her skin. Dan gently traced each scar, leaning his head forward so his forehead was pressed against the back of Zoe's neck. Zoe shivered as Dan traced the scar on the back of her left shoulder blade, the long thick one that made her think of angels – as if she'd had wings and they were ripped out her back.

"Please tell me they're not what I think they are." Dan said softly, practically begging her.

Zoe swallowed past her tears, rubbing them away with her hand. She kept her back to him because she was scared to – Dan always seemed so invincible that she often forgot that he wasn't much more indestructible than she was – and she didn't want to see him upset.

"The SKUL base I was living at before you found me isn't the one I grew up at." Zoe started. "When I was eight, the one I was living at burnt down. I never found out what started it and I never did see it start. I woke up in the middle of the night, completely surrounded by flames. I don't even know how I did it, but I managed to climb out my window. I remember it being really hard to do – most of my legs and my back got burned trying to get myself through that damn window and I spent about four months afterwards recovering." Zoe smiled sadly, brushing tears out of her eyes. "I've had a nightmares about it ever since." Zoe said, her back still facing Dan. "I didn't want to tell you because well, Dan you're not scared of anything and I felt stupid. Fire's such a normal, everyday thing and I didn't think it was that important."

Tears still hot in her eyes, Zoe grabbed for her shirt and pulled it back on, concealing her scars from Dan again. Brushing her tears away, Zoe turned so she and Dan were sitting side-by-side once again. She pulled her knees up to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the all-too vivid memories of that horrible night that swirled within her, especially the sound of the two children who couldn't have been much older than she was – both screaming.

Screaming for their mother.

Zoe wanted to cry, but she didn't. Instead, she took deep breaths and focused on calming herself. She wouldn't look weak in front of Dan. She just wouldn't.

Dan reached out and brushed hair out of Zoe's face. She opened her eyes and looked at him and Dan couldn't helped noticing how miserable she looked.

"You're wrong." Dan whispered, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I am scared of something."

For a split-second, Zoe didn't look so unhappy and Dan knew, somehow, that he was going to dedicate his entire life to making her happy. She looked at him curiously and Dan held back a smile. He somehow knew that that wouldn't go down well.

"That day at Sternum?" Dan said. "I was so scared that day. I was terrified that I'd lose you . . . before I even had you."

Dan leaned towards her slowly, giving Zoe a chance to pull away from him if she wanted to. Dan's heart soared when she didn't, her eyes closing as he kissed her gently. Zoe's hand came up to caress Dan's jaw, her mouth moving gently against his. His mouth felt warm and soft and he tasted faintly of cinnamon and it reminded her of home, of safety.

Suddenly Zoe pulled back, grabbing her jacket and pulling it on. "We should probably go. Class should be starting soon and McNab hates it when we're late."

She walked out, without even checking to see if Dan was following. Dan stared after her, completely dumbfounded. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd just wrecked everything with her, that he'd done too much, too fast.

_You can't've_, a voice in the back of his head reasoned. _She kissed back, didn't she?_

"Then why'd she run off?" Dan asked aloud. "Great, now I'm talking to myself."

_At least you're not answering yourself_, the voice replied wryly.

"Very funny." Dan hissed through his teeth. Feeling dejected, he got off the couch and followed Zoe out.


	4. Dawn

"Hey." Zoe said, moving into step beside Dan. Despite his sour mood that was still left over from lunch, Dan smiled down at her, bumping his shoulder against hers. It kind of felt like a slap in the face to him, but Dan managed to settle into the easy, carefree relationship that he'd always shared with her, while managing to fake the carefree and easy part.

"So what are we watching tonight?" Zoe asked. "More _Walking Dead_?"

Dan smiled wider and shook his head at her eagerness to see the gore that _The Walking Dead_ provided. "Not tonight, Zo. I was thinking something a little . . . different."

Zoe raised one eyebrow sceptically. "What do you mean by 'different'?"

"Disney." Dan replied. "You know, like _Lion King, Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Peter Pan_ and _The Little Mermaid_. I used to live on them as a kid."

"Yeah, but wouldn't most boys watch stuff like _Transformers_ and _Pokémon_, not _'Ooh, look at me, I'm a cute little fairy_!'" Zoe cried, dancing around Dan gracefully, moving as if a fairy would.

"I was a strange child." Dan muttered as Zoe stopped dancing around him, falling into step beside him and grinning.

"A very strange child." She agreed. Dan shoved her shoulder playfully and Zoe danced away, laughing. Dan imagined himself moving behind her and swinging her around. He heard Zoe laughing in his head and then he imagined himself pressing his mouth to her's. Zoe would wrap her arms around him, her fingers tangling in his hair and she'd kiss him back. And his head, she didn't pull away.

* * *

The first time Zoe stayed over to watch movies with him, Dan had woken up at sunrise with Zoe curled up beside him and the main menu of Warm Bodies playing on the TV. He'd been ready to go back to sleep, because he never woke up that early – he usually woke up about fifteen minutes before he had to go to school. But then he'd noticed how beautiful Zoe looked – the way the orange-coloured light had cast different light across her cheekbones and made her features look softer.

It became a natural occurrence that when Zoe slept over every Wednesday, the two of them would fall asleep watching whatever it was that they were watching. In this case they fell asleep watching _The Little Mermaid_, so when Dan woke up at sunrise, he woke to an image of the redheaded mermaid Ariel on the TV. Dan suddenly imagined Zoe as a mermaid, with a gleaming green tail instead of legs and a seashell bra. The image brought an amused smile to his face.

_You're impossible_, a voice hissed in the back of his head, but Dan just turned to look at Zoe. Her head was resting on Dan's leg and her legs were curled up underneath her, with her hands pressed together beneath her cheek, serving as a pillow would. Dan brushed hair away from Zoe's eyes, studying the way the soft light outlined her face. Zoe stirred, but she didn't wake. As always, her face looked more delicate. Dan had always though that Zoe was like a porcelain doll on the outside, but hard on the inside, as if she were made from steel or rock and was just made to look delicate.

Dan watched in fascination as the sun rose higher in the sky, until the light was at would remain to be until the sun set. Now that the only thing that was remotely close to his own little paradise was gone, Dan sighed and gently moved Zoe off his leg, getting up and switching the television off. As Zoe slowly woke, he moved into the kitchen to make some breakfast for the two of them.

Zoe's green eyes opened and she glanced around, lifting her head a little. She lightly traced the shape of her mouth, remembering how it had felt to have Dan's mouth on her own. He had soft but insistent with the pressure that he applied onto her mouth and she smiled. She liked the way he kissed her.

_So why did you pull away from him?_

That was a good question. Why had she pulled away?

It was a good question and it was one that she knew the answer to. And it all came to one word – fear. It was the same thing that had kept her from telling him about the fire, the same thing that made her pull away from him when he kissed her. She didn't know what she was scared of – this was Dan, who'd never hurt her in the whole time he'd known her, even when he hated her. And she'd been wanting to kiss him for months and then she pulled away.

_Nice job, V95_, a voice that sounded eerily like Mastermind and Crime Minister's voice mashed together hissed in her head, sending shivers down her spine.

"You okay?" Dan asked as he came in, carrying two plates with toast on them. "You look upset."

Zoe smiled as she sat up, crossing her legs and taking the plate that Dan handed to her. He sat on the floor and started eating and Zoe watched him with an almost awed expression. Dan was about to ask her what she was staring at when she said, "Dan, about yesterday –"

"Don't worry about it." Dan told her. "I shouldn't have done it and you had every right to pull away."

Zoe wanted to argue it with him, to tell him that he did have a right to do it and that he was quite welcome to do again if he wanted to. But there was something in his blue eyes that held her back.

Dan forced himself to push away the simple fact that she had kissed him before she pushed him away. He didn't want to hear it and he didn't want to think about it.

* * *

They were barely into the first lesson when Dan and Zoe, along with Tom and Aneisha, were called down to HQ by Frank.

"Another mission already?" Tom asked happily. "Damn, we're popular."

Zoe laughed and Aneisha noticed Dan looking after her with an almost longing look. Aneisha's brow furrowed and she made a mental note to ask Zoe about it later. Dan was elusive when you asked him about certain things. Zoe, however, wasn't. You just had to ask her the right questions.

"Actually, no." Frank said. Tom noticed that there was a live video link of Stella's face up on the screen.

"Stella thinks it would be a good idea to take both Dan and Zoe off active duty." Frank said.

Naturally, both Dan and Zoe were more than a little upset.

"That's stupid!" Dan shouted, stepping forward.

"Dan," Stella said, "you three narrowly escaped capture the other day. And in your escape, you narrowly avoided death. KORPS are after the pair of you and we can't have you putting other people in danger."

Dan's jaw set angrily and Zoe's eyes flashed, but neither of them knew what to say to that.

"As much as I hate to admit it," Aneisha started, "you can't take Dan and Zoe off active duty."

"Why is that?" Stella asked.

"Because if you take Dan and Zoe out of the team, there is no team. They're the fighters, the badasses. The team can't function without them, so if you take them off active duty, you take us all off active duty."

"Besides," Tom put in, "how long are you going to keep them off? KORPS aren't going to stop wanting Zoe and as long as they want Zoe, they're going to want Dan."

Stella sighed heavily and put her head in her hands. "Frank? What do you think?"

"I think they're right." Frank said. "You can't keep them off until we catch KORPS – that could take years. And these two, especially Dan, aren't going to sit still for long. But at the end of the day it's your call."

Stella sighed again and lifted her head. "God, I hate when you do that. Fine. Dan and Zoe, you can stay on active duty. But please, try to avoid taking risks like that again if you can help it."

* * *

"So what's going on with you and Dan?" Aneisha asked Zoe at lunch.

Zoe hunched her shoulders. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You and I both know that you do. Seriously, the way he was looking at you before was like a little puppy who'd been kicked in the ribs but still loved his owner." Then, the darker-skinned girl's eyes widened. "Holy shit."

"Nothing happened."

Aneisha raised one eyebrow and Zoe sighed. "We were talking and then I showed him my scars and then he kissed me."

"_He kissed you_?!" Aneisha practically squealed.

"Shh! Godzilla might hear you." Zoe hissed, her voice low.

"So what happened then?" Aneisha asked, her brown eyes bright with excitement.

"I kind of pulled away." Zoe said quietly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Aneisha hissed at her. Zoe dropped her head into her hands as hot tears pricked at her eyes. She knew that she had done something that she'd never wanted to do – she'd hurt Dan. And the worst part was that she had no idea how to fix it.

"Hang on. You said you showed him your scars. What scars?" Aneisha asked accusingly. Zoe stared at the ground through her fingers and then sighed, dropping her hands.

"Go and get Tom. I'm not explaining this three times."

Aneisha looked a little confused, but she dashed off to go get the technical expert. When she came back with him, Tom looked puzzled and Aneisha didn't fare much better, but they both sat beside Zoe as she told them what she had told them. She didn't show them the scars – she couldn't really show them in the middle of the school yard.

By the time she had finished, Aneisha had tears in her eyes and Tom was staring at the ground, both of them speechless.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't know what you'd think and I was scared to know." Zoe told them. Aneisha wrapped her arm around Zoe's shoulders, squeezing it tightly. "You can come to us about anything, okay? You don't have to hide from us, because friends are supposed to protect each other. We can't do that if we don't know what you're scared of."

Zoe nodded, brushing unshed tears out of her eyes. "Okay."

Aneisha smiled and Zoe glanced from Aneisha to Tom. Taking a deep breath, she moved out from under Aneisha's arm, slipping off the bench.

"Where are you going?" Tom asked.

Zoe turned to look at him and smiled brightly. "I'm going to go find Dan. I need to fix things with him."

Aneisha waved her away and as Zoe ran off, Tom and Aneisha shared a grin.

* * *

Their happiness was short lived.

When they went to class, only Dan was there and Zoe was nowhere to be found. Dan still had that lost-puppy look in his eyes.

"Hey. Did Zoe talk to you?" Tom asked him, collapsing in the seat beside the blonde.

"No. What about?"


	5. Alcohol and Cigarettes Smoke

_"No. What about?" Dan asked._

"Nevermind." Tom mumbled. "I'm sure she'll tell you later."

"Where is Zoe?" Dan asked, looking around. Tom glanced back at Aneisha, who simply shrugged. Sighing, Tom turned back to face the front, trying to ignore the feeling of dread that was settling in his gut. Some part of him knew that something _really_ bad had happened to Zoe.

They didn't see Zoe for the rest of the day and by the time the final bell rang, Dan had that determined look in his eye that Aneisha noticed that he wore whenever it looked like Zoe might be in danger. It had been present when William-Todd Williams had grabbed Zoe and it had been present when Zoe had run off to find Kloe. You'd have to be blind to have missed it when he didn't know where Zoe was at Sternum.

When the final bell of the day rang, Dan, Tom and Aneisha practically ran to the broom cupboard. Usually, the three teens enjoyed the gut-wrenching feeling of their hearts being left above them as their bodies plummeted downwards. Now, they were too worried about Zoe to even remotely enjoy it.

"Frank!" Aneisha cried as they walked out. "Frank, where are you?"

"What's going on? What's wrong?" Frank asked upon seeing Aneisha and Tom's panic-stricken faces. When his gaze settled on Dan's expression, he knew.

"Zoe?"

The three teens nodded and as fast they could, they told him what had happened. By the time they had finished, Frank's jaw was set in a hard line.

"Tom, check the security footage and find out what happened." Frank ordered. Tom nodded and flung himself into a chair, pulling out the laptop. He started typing furiously, his brown eyes assessing what was on the screen in front of his face quickly.

After about ten minutes of Aneisha bouncing nervously from foot to foot and Dan pacing impatiently, Tom grinned triumphantly. "I found it."

Pleased to have some progress, Dan, Aneisha and Frank gathered around the computer as Tom pulled up a video and pressed play. The video showed a secluded section between the back of St Heart's and the fence and you could see all the way onto the road. A black van with tinted windows could be seen parked on the road. As they watched, Zoe walked into view, obviously looking for somebody.

She turned, obviously about to walk off, but then two men moved to stand in her way. She took a step back and turned, but there were two other men coming towards her. Fear flashed quickly on Zoe's face, but then she covered it with determination. She tried to fight, kicking them away from her as best as she could, but there were four of them and they were in a cramped space. Zoe didn't stand a chance.

Dan sucked in a breath as one of the men pulled out what looked like a gun and shot it at Zoe. Whatever sunk into her arm wasn't a bullet – it didn't burrow into her flesh the way a bullet would, it was bright red and it just stuck out of her arm like a dart. With a start, Dan realised that that was exactly what it was – a tranquiliser dart. As they watched, Zoe swayed on her feet and fell to the ground, unconscious. The man who'd shot her put the tranquiliser gun away and picked up in his arms, following the other three to the van as it sped away.

Dan and Aneisha stared at the screen, trying to process what they had seen, but already, Frank was jumping into action. "Tom, did you get the registration number on that van?"

"I can. Just hang on a sec." Tom said, typing furiously on the keyboard. He pulled up footage from a CCTV camera and then paused it, zooming in on the back of a black van.

Frank nodded. "Is there any way to find out where it's going? I mean, are they using a GPS or –"

Before Frank had even finished speaking, Tom was typing on the computer already. "They're not using a GPS. I'll have to use CCTV to track them."

Tom nodded. Dan turned to walk out, but then Frank jumped in front of him, pushing him back. "Where are you going?"

"To find Zoe." Dan replied, pushing against him.

"Dan, no." Frank said.

"Frank –" Dan started.

"No, I know what you're thinking, but we can't handle this on our own. We need reinforcements and we need to know where she is before we can rescue her."

"Frank, I have to get her." Dan said. Frank had expected the boy's voice to be low and dangerous, but instead he sounded as if he were going to break down.

"Dan, you have to wait." Frank said. Dan shook his head and pushed past Frank, moving towards the lift. Aneisha lunged after him, grabbing both his arms and pulling him back. Dan pulled against her with all his strength, but then Aneisha let go of his arms and pushed her foot into the small of his back at the same time, so he crashed forward to the floor. Before he could get up, Aneisha grabbed his arms again and pulled back on them roughly, so he was kneeling on the hard floor with his arms pulled behind him. Dan grunted and struggled, but he couldn't break free from her and all that resulted in was sharp pains in his arms. Knowing that he wasn't going anywhere, Dan relaxed, his knees falling against the floor with a loud thump.

"I'm letting you go, okay?" Aneisha said quietly. Dan swallowed and nodded, making every bone and muscle in his body relax. Aneisha slowly released her hold on Dan's arms, expecting him to make a run for the lift and being ready to grab him again. To her surprise, Dan didn't run off. Instead, he twisted so he was facing Tom, Frank and Aneisha, leaning back on his hands. He flicked blonde hair out of his eyes and despite the situation, Aneisha bit back a grin. He looked like Justin Bieber when he did that. That was ironic, considering Dan hated Justin Bieber.

* * *

Zoe grunted, thrashing against the hands that held her. The effects of the tranquiliser had slowly worn off and now that she wasn't unconscious or dazed, she was _pissed._

"Let me go!" Zoe cried, trying to wrench her arms from the man's grip, but he just tightened his fingers on her arm and leaned down. Zoe held her breath and tried not to retch. His breath smelled like cigarette smoke and alcohol. She could feel him grinning next to her ear and she pushed him away as best as she could.

"Dirty little bitch." The man muttered, pulling her along roughly. Zoe knew that if Dan were in her position, he'd snap back a retort and smirk in that charming way of his, but Zoe bit down on her tongue. Dan wasn't famously known for his diplomacy. He was notoriously known for saying things that got him in trouble.

So she allowed herself to be dragged along beside this man who smelled strongly of alcohol and cigarette smoke until he dragged her through a door and pushed her away from him, as if she were a dog that was infested with fleas and lice and ticks.

"Vincent!" A female's voice yelled as Zoe struggled to her feet. The man who smelled like alcohol and cigarettes – Vincent – cringed away from the voice as Crime Minister stomped out of the shadows, her eyes blazing.

"I told you not to hurt her." She hissed. "The Master will inhabit this body soon and it must be in the best condition possible."

"Y-y-yes, C-Crime Minister." Vincent stammered fearfully, turning and scurrying off like a rat. If he hadn't treated her so horribly and called her a 'dirty little bitch', Zoe might have even felt a little sorry for him. Might.

"Now, V95." Crime Minister said, her painted red lips stretching into a smile. Zoe took a step back and selfishly wished that Dan were there with her. Already, she missed his bright blue eyes.

"You're in trouble, V95. And this time your little boyfriend isn't here to save you." Crime Minister sneered.

"He's not my boyfriend." Zoe said, squaring her shoulders.

"You want him to be, don't you?"

"Whatever you want, I won't do it." Zoe said, raising her chin in defiance.

"Not even to keep dear Dan safe?" Crime Minister asked sweetly. Zoe's heart skipped a beat and she glared at Crime Minister through green eyes that glinted dangerously, like a cat who was stalking its prey. Except Zoe wasn't the predator and Crime Minister wasn't the prey. Crime Minister was the cat and Zoe was the little mouse, scrambling for her life.

"You don't have him." Zoe said confidently, although she wasn't sure if she believed it.

"Maybe." Crime Minister said, her eyes glinting. "Maybe not."

She turned and walked towards the door, letting it shut behind her. Zoe raced to the door after her, slamming into it as it closed. Zoe's ears registered the click that told her that it was locked, but she still pulled on the doorknob, hoping that maybe she was hearing things. When it held fast, Zoe turned away from the door, hot tears pricking at her eyes.

Do not cry, _Uno Spirito_, a voice told her in her head, find a way out.

It was the voice that guided her when she fought, when she was in trouble. It was the voice that always sounded like Raphael, the man that trained her at SKUL. He had always been the kindest of everyone she'd known at SKUL and it was because of him that she'd been allowed four months off her training after the fire to recuperate. Suddenly she wanted to see Raphael. She hadn't seen him for just under a year and she wondered what had happened to him, after SKUL were defeated. Was he imprisoned, like the Grand Master? Or had MI9 recognised his talents and good heart, like they had with Zoe, and offered him a second chance?

Zoe glanced around. She recognised her surroundings, she realised. She was in a big room with a metal floor and white walls, with windows set high in the wall. She could see that it was night – she could see the night sky and the stars through one of the windows. She'd always liked the stars, liked how they made her feel small.

Quit moping, Raphael's voice hissed. Find a way out. Find a way back to your _fidanzato_.

Zoe looked around, moving further into the room. She moved towards the door on the other side of the room, but a quick inspection of that told her that that was locked too. Zoe looked at the windows in dismay. They were set too high up for her to get to them and the room was bare, with nothing that she could climb onto to reach the windows. Zoe looked around frantically. She couldn't see any other means of getting out.

Okay, _Uno Spirito_, Raphael said. There's nothing you can do right now. _Grido_, if that is what you desire.

What Zoe really desired was Dan. She wanted Dan to be holding her, to hear his soft voice telling her that everything would be alright. But Zoe couldn't get to Dan, so instead, Zoe sank to the floor and cried until she fell asleep, curled up on the cool metal floor.

_**Uno Spirito - **_**Spirited One**

_**Fidanzato - **_**Boyfriend**

_**Grido **_**- cry**


	6. The Eagle and The Wolf

**Okay, I had someone ask me last chapter what the language was that I've been using for this story. The language is Italian and just so you know, it's going to be used a lot in this story.**

_But Zoe couldn't get to Dan, so instead, Zoe sank to the floor and cried until she fell asleep, curled up on the cool metal floor._

* * *

"Dan, stop pacing." Aneisha said impatiently. She wanted to throw something at him, but there was nothing available that wouldn't be extremely costly to replace if it broke.

Dan sighed, falling to the floor again. He put his head into his hands, but his right foot bounced impatiently against the floor. He was restless and worried about Zoe and that wasn't helping anyone – least of all himself.

Frank sighed impatiently and turned to face the blonde. "Dan, go home. There's nothing you can do right now and all you're managing to do is be a distraction."

Dan sighed, but he got up off the floor and headed towards the lift. Aneisha watched him miserably – despite how helpless she felt with Zoe missing, she knew that Dan must be feeling a hundred times worse.

"Poor Dan." Aneisha said, staring after him as the lift closed.

"Poor Dan?" Tom echoed. "What about Zoe? She's the one that keeps getting taken by KORPS."

"How would you feel if the person you were in love with was taken by a criminal organisation that wanted to put someone else into their body?" Aneisha hissed.

Tom shrugged. "I don't know. I've been in love with someone. Wait, Dan told you that he loves Zoe? Why did he tell you? Why didn't he tell _me_?"

Aneisha rolled her eyes. "He didn't tell me, Tom."

"Then how do you –"

"Tom, it's my job to be able to read people – their actions, their words. I just _know._"

"So Dan's in love with Zoe." Tom said, almost as if he couldn't quite believe it.

"How is that so hard to believe? They've liked each other for months."

"Yeah, but . . ." Tom trailed off. Aneisha rolled her eyes, pulling her phone out and throwing into the air before she caught it again.

"You guys okay?" Frank asked.

Aneisha shrugged. "Just . . . I miss Zoe. And I'm worried about Dan. I hope he doesn't do anything stupid."

"I'm sure he won't." Frank said reassuringly. "Dan may be reckless, but he's definitely not stupid."

"He does have a tendency to not think." Tom pointed out.

"Even with Zoe?" Frank asked.

"Especially with Zoe." Aneisha said.

* * *

Dan sighed, pulling his collar up to cover his throat. The air was freezing, biting into his skin like thousands of ice-cold razor-sharp knives. Winter was starting to set in and soon the snow would come. The fact that the cold weather was coming explained why the water in the lake they'd dived into a few days before had been so cold. It had been starting to cool, but since winter had fully set in yet, it hadn't been cold enough that they would freeze. Dan had always liked winter, liked the snow. He wondered if Zoe had ever seen snow and then he drew in a sharp intake of breath as his chest contracted. His hands pushed deeper into his pockets, Dan wondered what was happening to Zoe. He hoped that KORPS were treating her properly, but he knew that that was too much to ask for. KORPS were a criminal organisation. They wouldn't care about the condition she was left in. But then again, they wanted to put Mastermind into Zoe's body. He would want her body to be in the best condition possible for the transference of Mastermind's consciousness into her body.

A shiver ran down Dan's spine, but it had nothing to do with the cold air.

He sighed again, flicking his hair out of his eyes. Summer had lightened it, but it was starting to darken again. Dan thought back to when he'd watched Zoe's face as the sun rose. Had it really only been that morning? It felt like a thousand years ago.

Dan was so caught up in his own train of thought that he didn't notice the figure creeping up behind him until he saw the extra shadow next to his own. He had fast reflexes – thanks to M.I.9 and skateboarding – but they weren't fast enough. Dan turned to face a man dressed in typical mundane clothing – jeans, a leather jacket and a grey t-shirt. But Dan recognised the sinister expression was the dead giveaway that he was more than he seemed. As the man reached into his pocket, Dan remembered what the KORPS had said at the office block.

That's the girl the Master wants – V95. And Crime Minister wants the boy too.

Oh shit.

The man pulled out an object that resembled a gun and Dan's eyes widened as the weapon was trained on him. Dan flipped backwards, but the man anticipated it and shot at Dan, catching the boy in the leg. Dan cried out, but it felt different to what a bullet should feel like. He glanced down and saw not a bullet, but a dart, not that different from the one he'd seen in Zoe's arm on the CCTV footage. Dan swayed on his feet, almost falling over. He could feel the tranquiliser liquid being pushed into his bloodstream – it didn't feel all that different from getting an immunisation for tetanus.

_And Crime Minister wants the boy too._

Dan swayed on his feet again and this time he actually fell, crashing painfully to the concrete pavement. The man sighed and knelt down, grabbing Dan and draping the boy's arm around his neck before hauling him to his feet. Dan recognised the smell of alcohol and cigarettes on the man's breath before he went under.

* * *

"_Uno Spirito. Spirito_. V95!"

Gasping in surprise, Zoe sat up, looking around her. She was still in the same room she had been in when she fell asleep – one side of her body felt cold and sore from where she'd lain on the metal flooring. She could feel the dried tears on her cheeks and she sighed, relaxing. She must have imagined the voice.

"_Spirito_!"

"What –" Zoe broke off as she stood and turned, her mouth gaping open as she saw the man standing against the door.

"Raphael?!" Zoe cried, her disbelief evident in her voice. Her ex-trainer grinned back at her, his hands stuffed deep into her pockets. He kicked something at his feet and Zoe looked down, seeing a tray with a plate and glass on top of it. The plate was piled high with pancakes, bacon and eggs and the glass held orange juice. Zoe looked questioningly up at Raphael. Now that there was food being offered to her, she realised that she was starving. She hadn't had dinner the previous night and she'd been so worried at lunch that she hadn't eaten much then, either.

Raphael chuckled and nudged the tray towards her with the toe of his boot. "Go on, _Spirito_. _Consumare_."

Zoe didn't need to be told twice. She moved forward, skidding across the hard floor painfully. She didn't care – she was already reaching for the food. She grabbed for the bacon and chewed it as quickly as she could. She didn't know whether he'd be able to bring her food again.

"Slow down, _Spirito_." Raphael said softly, crouching down in front of her. "It's not going to walk away."

Zoe reluctantly slowed down before she made herself sick – Raphael was right. The meat was already dead. It couldn't walk away from her. When she finally finished the food, she grabbed the glass and downed the orange juice. When she placed it down, she raised her eyes slowly to look at Raphael.

He had his head cocked to the side so that his black hair fell into his face.

"Ask your question." Raphael said.

"What – what are you doing here?"

Raphael smiled. "Long story short, MI9 needed someone to infiltrate this place." He picked up the tray and gave Zoe a sympathetic smile. "I have to go, V95. There are other prisoners I must feed."

"Zoe." She whispered as Raphael reached for the door. He paused, turning back to look at her, still sitting on the floor. "Hmm?"

"Zoe." She repeated. "My name is Zoe."

* * *

Dan slowly woke to find himself being dragged along none too gently. He could smell cigarette and alcohol and the smell made him want to gag. Dan's great-grandfather had fought in World War II and the man had drunk excessively throughout his entire life. Dan had met him, once, when he was younger. He must have only been about five or six, but he never forgot the horrible smell of alcohol that surrounded the man. As a child, Dan had never understood why anyone would want to be an alcoholic. The man had served his country, protected the innocent. It was only until he knew what Frank went through, ten years ago at that KORPS base with the missile and Hyperia von Hades that Dan could begin to fully comprehend why anyone would want to do that.

In the end, it was the two scents that he hated more than anything else in this world that made him wake up. He thought of Zoe and imagined her lying somewhere, unconscious and bloody and possibly dying. He felt his anger flare and he thrashed against the man, trying to free his arm.

"You're not going anywhere, _boy_." The man said, his speech slurred slightly. He shoved Dan forwards and he crashed into the floor. He realised that he was in a prison cell as he heard something click behind him.

"Hey!" Dan shouted, flinging himself into the bars angrily as his fingers curled around the metal. He pulled on them, half-hoping that maybe they were older – much older – than they looked and that they'd give. No such luck.

Dan sighed and turned away, wondering what to do next. He knew he should look for an escape route, but he knew that he was not leaving without Zoe. When he'd first started to wake, he'd thought he was in the office block he'd infiltrated with Aneisha and Zoe only a few days before. Now he wasn't so sure.

Dan glanced around his cell. It was everything you expected a cell to be – plain grey walls and a simple bed. It didn't look too comfortable. Apart from that, there was nothing else. There were no windows, with the only light coming from a light bulb hanging suspended from the ceiling. Dan sighed, feeling defeated. There was only one way in and one way out.

This was going to be fun.

"Daniel? Daniel Morgan?" A voice asked outside his cell. Dan's brow furrowed and he carefully moved back to the bars that marked where the front of his cell was. He could see a man standing on the other side of the bars. He had auburn hair and intelligent blue eyes and was wearing a KORPS uniform. He seemed vaguely familiar.

"How do you know my name?" Dan hissed distastefully.

The KORPS agent's brow furrowed in confusion. "What? Oh."

He reached up and tugged at his hair and to Dan's surprise the auburn hair came off as he pulled at it. A wig. When the auburn was gone, the man had curly blonde hair. Dan's eyes widened.

"Oscar Dixon-Halliday."

Oscar grinned at him. "Here I go by Jacob."

Dan nodded. "What are you doing here? Is Zoe here? Is she safe?"

"Just wait." Oscar said. "First question – I'm here to find out what's going on. I don't know who told M.I.9 that there was a missile at that office block, because it sure as hell wasn't me. Two – I haven't been able to get to Zoe. But I _do_ know that she's alive and that KORPS won't kill her."

"They'll do worse than that." Dan said. "They'll put Mastermind in her."

Oscar nodded sadly. "We're trying to get you both out. Frank contacted my dad last night and_ he_ contacted me. Rose and Carrie should nearly be at St Heart's."

Dan nodded and swallowed thickly. "Does Frank know I'm here?"

"It's ten in the morning, Dan." Oscar said. "I imagine that if Frank doesn't, your friends do."

"Does the _figlio_ want breakfast?" a new, older voice asked. Dan and Oscar both turned towards the voice, seeing an older man walking towards Dan's cell. He looked to be in his early fifties and he looked to be of Italian or maybe even Greek decent, with light brown-coloured skin and dark brown, almost black hair. He had a mischievous glint in his eye that made him look younger as he was carried a tray of food.

Dan's stomach growled, reminding him how long it had been since he'd eaten. The newcomer chuckled, taking a set of keys out of his pocket. "Do not run, _Lupo in Gabbia_."

Dan wanted to ask what that meant, but he held his tongue. He trusted Oscar, but he wasn't sure whether he could afford to trust this man. Dan nodded as the Italian man opened the door of his cell and pushed the tray of food through the door before closing it again. Dan smiled and thanked him, sitting down in front of it as he started eating.

"Dan, this is Raphael." Oscar said, gesturing to the Italian man. "He's been my right-hand man while I've been here."

Dan stuck his hand through the bars. "Nice to meet you, Raphael."

Raphael smiled and shook the teen's good-naturedly. "Nice to see some kids do still have manners."

Dan grinned as he pulled his hand back. Raphael looked startlingly familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint where he'd seen him. "Where have I seen you before?"

"Were you in that bunch of teens that brought down SKUL?" Raphael asked. "With V95?"

At the sound of Zoe's original name, Dan's heart thumped painfully against his chest. With a massive effort, he forced himself to calm down. Zoe had lived at SKUL for years on end. Instead of asking if he'd seen her, like he really wanted to, Dan simply nodded. Demanding things of people he didn't know wasn't going to help anybody.

"I worked for SKUL for many years." Raphael said. "I wish I hadn't."

"Why?" Dan asked. He heard Oscar's footsteps, moving away from them. He probably had more pressing matters to deal with than to babysit a sixteen-year-old teenage boy.

"I hated it at SKUL. I was only there because of my father – when we migrated from Italy, the only work he could find was in SKUL. I fell into it because I had studied tai chi and kung fu. I trained all of SKUL's agents from there on out, including –"

"Including Zoe." Dan finished. "You trained her well, Raphael."

The man grinned. "_Naturalmente_._ I_ trained her."

Dan rolled his eyes and laughed, putting a piece of bacon in his mouth. "Once she got trapped behind security doors with a whole bunch of KORPS agents. She had to have only been there for a minute or so, but when it was pulled up, they were all lying on the floor."

Raphael laughed. "_Uno Spirito_, she is."

Dan's brow furrowed. "What does that mean?"

"It means 'spirited one' in Italian." Raphael said.

"And what you called me before? Lupe Gabby or something like that?"

Raphael laughed again. "_Lupo in gabbia_. It means 'caged wolf'. You are the wolf, boy. The alpha male."

"What does that make Zoe?" Dan asked. "The alpha female?"

Raphael smiled. "No, _Lupo_. Zoe is _Aquila_. The eagle. You are both free spirits, animals that need to be set free."

"How are you going to set us free?" Dan asked, his appetite suddenly gone.

Raphael's brown eyes looked pained. "I do not know, _Lupo_. I do not know."

**_Uno Spirito - Spirited One_**

**_Spirito - Spirited_**

**_Consumare - eat_**

**_Figlio - boy_**

**_Lupo in gabbia - caged wolf _**

**_Naturalmente - of course_**

**_Aqulia - eagle_**


	7. Grief

_Raphael's brown eyes looked pained. "I do not know, Lupo. I do not know."_

* * *

When Aneisha and Tom ran into base the morning after Zoe disappeared, they both, again, looked ready to burst into tears.

"What's wrong with you two? Where's Dan?" Frank asked, dread rising in his chest. Something told him he already knew what had happened to Dan.

"That's the thing." Aneisha said. "He's not here. It's third lesson and he's _not here_."

"You don't think –" Tom started. "You don't think he went after her, do you?"

"No." Frank said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "I stand by what I said last night. Dan's reckless, not stupid. My guess is that he took the long way home last night and KORPS grabbed him." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"Umm . . . we now have two people to rescue instead of one?" Tom guessed. Aneisha's face twisted in unneeded fury and she slapped Tom upside the head.

"OW!" He yelled, turning to look at Aneisha as he rubbed where she'd hit him. "What was that for?"

"Aneisha." Frank said quietly. "That wasn't needed."

Aneisha nodded. She cast a guilty look in Tom's direction and he gave her a reassuring smile.

"If KORPS have Dan, we're headed for disaster." Frank said. "After Sternum, they know how Zoe feels about Dan and vice versa. If what we think is right, then –"

"They can get Zoe to do whatever they want if they threaten Dan." Aneisha said quietly. Her chest contracted painfully and she forced herself to breathe normally. Hyperventilating was not going to help Dan and Zoe. They all heard the unmistakable sound of the lift coming down and both Tom and Aneisha whirled around. Aneisha felt naked without Dan and Zoe beside her as she prepared to face a possible foe. She'd never really fought anyone without them.

The lift door opens opened and two women stepped out. One had dark skin, a similar shade to Aneisha's. The other obviously had Indian ancestry, judging from the colour of her skin. Frank smiled at the sight of them. "Rose, Carrie. Where's Oscar?"

"He's already there. He's been infiltrating that damn place for the past month." The darker skinned one said. She grinned and stepped forward, offering her hand to Aneisha. "Carrie Stewart."

Aneisha shook her hand. "Aneisha Jones." She then stepped back and gestured to Tom. "This is Tom, the uh, technical genius of the group."

"So let me guess." The other girl, Rose, said. "The ones you've lost are the fighters."

Tom nodded miserably. "I can't throw a punch without hitting the wrong person."

"I can attest to that." Frank cut in. Rose, Carrie and Aneisha smiled while Tom grinned sheepishly.

"Have you spoken to Oscar at all?" Frank asked.

Rose nodded. "He's talked to Dan and he's about to go see Zoe. They're trying to keep both Dan and Zoe fed so that they can keep their strength up."

"What kinds of numbers are we looking at?" Frank asked.

"Apparently, there's about thirty working there." Carrie said. "He didn't say how long he thought they have."

"I'd say until tomorrow at the latest." Aneisha said, speaking up. When all eyes trained on her, she flushed. "Well, Zoe's not going to do anything until she sees Dan for herself. Say Oscar buys them until morning. That gives us time. Tom, please tell me you know where they are."

Tom looked pained. "I can't find her and since I don't know where Dan was when he was grabbed, I can't try and find him either. Hang on, can't we just ask Oscar where they are? He's with them."

"We can't." Rose said. "It's too dangerous."

"I think I know how to find them." Frank said. He grabbed a device off the desk and brought it over. "The other day, after you three came back from infiltrating that office block with the missile, I put a tracker on Dan and Zoe. I figured we'd need it."

"A tracker?" Aneisha asked. "How come they didn't know? Won't KORPS find it?"

"You three were asleep. Tom helped me put it in. It's just like a little microchip, underneath their skin. It won't hurt them in any way and it would be undetectable to KORPS."

"What, like putting a microchip on a dog?" Aneisha asked.

"Precisely." Frank said, switching on the device in his hands. As soon as it did, an animation of the earth flashed up on the screen. Then it zeroed in on the UK and then it zoomed in even more. Aneisha expected it to zoom in on the abandoned office block they'd infiltrated only a few days before, but instead it zeroed in on the abandoned factory that was next door to it. It was a massive factory – perfect for hiding a secret operation.

"Great. Let's go." Aneisha said, heading towards the lift.

"Hang on." Frank said. "We have to organise a SWAT team first."

"Are you serious?" Aneisha cried. She flopped down on the floor and buried her face in her arm, trying to force her tears back.

"Hey."

Aneisha felt a gentle touch on her arm and she looked up through her tears at Carrie, who smiling down at her sympathetically. Carrie didn't say anything, she just sat on the floor beside Aneisha and wrapped her arm around the younger girl's shoulder. It was the best form of comfort she could give.

* * *

Zoe looked up when the door opened. She hoping that maybe Raphael was back, but it was Crime Minister and . . . Mastermind. Zoe stood, glaring at the fish tank, as Aneisha had called it. Two men came in after Mastermind, closing the door behind them. The first man stumbled in. That was Vincent, the man who had brought her in the night before. Zoe didn't recognise the second one – he had auburn hair, a similar colour to her own and kind blue eyes. He didn't look like the kind of person that would work for KORPS.

Crime Minister smirked at Zoe as Vincent pushed Mastermind forward towards her.

"We are alike, you and I." Mastermind said, his booming voice echoing in the large room.

"I'm nothing like you." Zoe hissed back at him. "You're evil."

"You may not be evil, girl, but you are ruthless. You do not want to believe it, but you are exactly like me."

"No! I'm nothing like you!" Zoe cried, taking a step back.

"You are me, girl. My blood runs through your veins. Your body is mine."

"No." Zoe snarled. "It's mine."

"Would you give it up to save Daniel?" Crime Minister cut in. Zoe's eyes slowly travelled to the woman, hard and dangerous. "You don't have him. You're lying."

"Try me." The woman snarled back. "Tomorrow Mastermind will be transferred. If you refuse . . ."

She traced an invisible line horizontally on her neck.

"I'm not doing anything for you until I see him." Zoe said. Her voice came out clear and strong and it surprised her.

Crime Minister sighed and then clicked her fingers. "Vincent, take the Master out of here. Jacob, take her to see her _beloved_." She ordered. She said the word 'beloved' as if it tasted foul in her mouth, following Vincent out as the other man who came in with her, Jacob, moved towards Zoe. He grabbed her arm roughly, muttering an apology as he marched her out of the room and past Crime Minister. When they were well out of earshot, Jacob let go of Zoe's arm and she rubbed it. "Did you have to grab me so hard, Oscar?"

"Sorry." Oscar replied, pulling off the auburn wig. "I couldn't be gentle with you, I couldn't have them think that I'm on anyone's side except theirs."

Zoe nodded. "How long will we have?"

"I'd say they'll give you all night. They still have to get everything ready."

"Have they hurt him?" Zoe asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

"No. Had tranquiliser that still hadn't quite worn off when Vincent brought him in, but that's about it. We've been feeding him as well, just like we have with you."

She nodded. She'd been afraid that she'd see him bloody and barely able to move. To hear that he was healthy and unharmed was a big weight off her shoulders.

When they reached Dan's cell, Dan and Raphael were sitting facing each other, the bars separating them. Zoe half-expected them to be playing cards through the bars or something, but they were just sitting. She could hear Dan talking, his voice soft. He appeared to be talking in Italian.

"_Vi terró_ –" Dan started, before Oscar cut him off.

"You have a visitor, Dan."

Zoe stepped out so that Dan could see her and she walked up to the bars, giving him the best smile she could manage. "Hi Dan."

"Zoe!" Dan cried, leaping to his feet and flinging himself at the bars. His knee collided painfully and noisily with the iron bars, but Dan barely noticed. He reached out with one hand, his palm sliding across Zoe's cheek. She leaned into his touch as he kissed her gently, the bars separating them preventing them from doing much more than a simple brush of lips against lips.

"Alright, relax, _Lupo_." Raphael said, moving to unlock the doors. Zoe shot Dan an incredulous look. "Did he seriously just call you a wolf?"

Dan laughed as Raphael opened the door. Before Raphael even had time to step back, Zoe was inside and in Dan's arms, who had his face buried in her hair. Zoe was crying into his shoulder – whether it was from relief to see him or grief that he was there, she didn't know.

"Dan." Zoe whispered softly. She raised her head so she could see his face – his eyes shimmered like sapphires and her heart contracted as she threaded her fingers through his hair. "Dan, I'm sorry I pulled away from you."

"Why?" Dan whispered, watching as her eyes focused on him, only him.

"I was scared." Zoe whispered. "Scared of how I felt about you, how much I love you."

Dan stared at her. Then he kissed her.

There was none of gentle innocence that their kisses had possessed before. Dan was no longer unsure of himself and there were no longer bars that kept them apart.

Dan's mouth crushed against Zoe's, her arms wrapping around his neck as her long fingers slid into his hair. Zoe was going mainly on instinct – before their kisses had been slow, gentle, so she'd had the chance to work out what she was supposed to be doing. Now, there was no time for that. She just did what felt right, letting her fingers become tangled in his thick hair. Dan stepped forward and she stepped back, until Zoe's back collided with the wall. Dan placed one hand on either side of her head and pulled away slowly, looking down at her with heavy-lidded eyes. He rested his forehead against Zoe's.

"I love you, Zoe. And I don't ever want to stop loving you."

_**Lupo - **_**Wolf**

**_Vi terró_ - I will keep you **


	8. Tragic Intimacy

_He rested his forehead against Zoe's._

"_I love you, Zoe. And I don't ever want to stop loving you."_

* * *

It took nearly all day to get the SWAT team together. By that time, Aneisha was practically in hysterics and Tom wasn't doing much better. Tom had stopped trying to make jokes because every time he did, Aneisha slapped him and gave him a lecture on the fact that Dan and Zoe were missing. Tom, who wasn't a particularly violent person, immediately retaliated and threatened to skin her alive and then feed her skinless body to piranhas. After that, Frank banished them both to different ends of the room. He had enough to worry about without Tom and Aneisha being at each other's throats.

Frank's throat hurt from yelling and he was tired from worrying about Dan and Zoe.

"We'll find them, Frank." Carrie said, almost as she'd read his mind.

Frank simply nodded. "I don't doubt that, Carrie. I'm just worried about what state they're going to be in when we find them."

* * *

Dan and Zoe were sitting on the narrow bed in Dan's cell. Dan had been right in guessing that it wouldn't be too comfortable on the bed – it wasn't, but neither of them really cared. Dan had his arms around Zoe's waist, his fingers tracing invisible patterns across the fabric the covered her stomach and hips. Their earlier passion had melted away, leaving only a tender intimacy that neither of them wanted to end.

"Can I see them again?" Dan asked quietly, his fingertips pressed lightly against Zoe's stomach. Zoe twisted so that she could see his face. His blue eyes held nothing but sincerity, that one thing about him that never changed, no matter what day it was. He was incredibly sincere in everything that he did. Zoe nodded once before turning back around and shrugging out of her blazer. She was still wearing her school uniform – she'd lost her tie at some point, her blazer was ripped and her shirt had untucked itself. Zoe placed the blazer in front of her as Dan carefully lifted up the back of her white shirt, his hands tracing her scars gently. Zoe shivered and Dan paused. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Zoe replied, smiling sadly at him over her shoulder. "I didn't expect your hand to be that cold."

Dan smiled and went back to tracing Zoe's scars. When he'd first seen them, he'd thought that were out of place on her, but they were part of Zoe – whether he liked it or not. And he didn't see them as scars so much as marks of battle – proof of how brave she'd been when her life was on the line.

When Dan had committed every single scar to memory, he let her shirt slip from his fingers and rested his forehead against Zoe's shoulder.

"Dan, what are we going to do?" Zoe asked softly and Dan's heart hammered painfully against his ribcage. This was the question he'd been dreading she'd ask. He wanted to tell her that they'd be fine, that Frank and the others would find them before any real damage could be done. But it was hard to make someone else believe what you didn't believe yourself.

"Zoe, look at me." Dan said softly. Zoe, noticing the serious change in his voice, turned so she was facing him. His blue eyes held a sadness that Zoe didn't quite understand and she reached out, taking Dan's hands in her own and squeezing tightly.

"Zoe, no matter what they threaten you with, don't do anything for them." Dan said, his eyes searching her face.

"But Dan, if I don't, they'll kill you." Zoe protested.

"Doesn't matter." Dan said, swallowing past the lump in his throat and shaking his head. "They'll kill me anyway. KORPS aren't known for keeping their word. After they've put Mastermind in you, Mastermind will kill me, just because I meant something to you and it'll amuse him."

Zoe ducked her head and squeezed her eyes shut against the tears in her eyes. She recalled something Aneisha had said, when Zoe had run off with Dan on a mission, leaving Aneisha on her own.

_Romeo and Juliet ran off without me._

_Romeo and Juliet alright_, Zoe thought bitterly.

"Zoe, we're MI9. We have to make sacrifices for the greater good." Zoe hated it when he said stuff like that. He didn't sound like the Dan she knew – he sounded older, wiser, more responsible. And most of the time, when he spoke like that, he was speaking the ugly truth that she didn't want to hear.

"Zoe, in this war with KORPS, you're important. If they put Mastermind in you, it's all over. One of the most evil men to ever have lived would have a physical body that he can hurt people with. If you live, he doesn't have that. Either way, whether you do what they want or not, I am going to die. Make sure that I don't die for nothing. I'm not important. You are."

"You _are_ important." Zoe whimpered. "You're important to me."

"But I'm not important to _them_." Dan replied. "As soon as they've got what they want, I'm no use to them anymore. I go back to being just a regular MI9 agent. The only thing that makes me special is the way you feel about me. That's it."

"But that's not fair." Zoe whimpered. "Dan, how is it fair that it has to be you? Why do you have to die? You're most loyal, strong, amazing person I've ever met in my entire life."

"And you're the most stubborn, unselfish, beautiful person I've ever met in my life." Dan said, wrapping his arms around Zoe's waist and pulling her closer.

"But what if I want to be selfish for once? What if I want you?"

"Then you can't." Dan whispered. "The first time that you want to do something for yourself, you can't. I know it sucks and I know it's not fair. Zoe, do think I want to die? All I want is to be with you. That's all want. But I can't have that because _il mio compito é quello di proteggere l'utente_." He said, his Italian perfect.

Zoe, who'd been speaking Italian from a very young age, immediately recognised what he'd said.

My job is to protect you.

No. His job was to protect the country. She didn't need protecting. It was cruel that he would have to die at only sixteen, protecting his country and protecting her.

"But what am I supposed to do?" Zoe whimpered. "Dan, I love you and I need you. How am I supposed to –"

"I don't know. But you'll find a way." Dan replied. "You'll keep protecting the team – you'll protect Tom and you'll protect Aneisha. And if they get someone in to take my place, you'll protect him too."

Zoe shook her head. "No one can ever take your place, Dan."

She pushed him down so he was lying flat on his back, staring up at her. Zoe kissed Dan's temples, his jaw, his cheeks, his neck – every bare inch of skin she could find. Then she crushed her mouth against Dan's and he held her tight, his mouth responding to her own. Zoe could taste tears, but she wasn't sure if they were her own or whether they were his. Honestly, she didn't really care. All she wanted was memorise every part of him so that even if he died, she wouldn't ever forget him.

Outside the cell, Oscar and Raphael listened with heavy hearts. Dan was only sixteen, Zoe fifteen. They were young – they shouldn't have to experience loss and pain like the type that Dan was talking about. Teenage love was supposed to be sweet and innocent, not putting yourself in the face of danger just so you could keep the one you loved safe. The two of them shouldn't have been lying together in that cell, crying and kissing because all the odds were turning against them and they didn't know how long they were going to have with each other.

Raphael turned away and Oscar leaned against the wall outside Dan's cell. The younger man couldn't help wondering if the M. program was a bad idea. He and Zoe were exceptions. They had been forced to mature at a young age because of the choices other people made. The rest of them – Carrie, Rose, Dan, Aneisha, Tom – they'd been normal, carefree teenagers whose biggest worries were whether the person they liked liked them back and whether they'd passed their exams or not. Being recruited by MI9 at such a young age forced them to mature, to become responsible.

Inside the cell, Zoe was lying beside Dan, her arm draped across his waist and her head on his chest. Her legs were tangled with his and her tears were drying on her cheeks. She no longer felt the urge to cry, but she felt a hollow emptiness inside her. She knew that that emptiness would only grow when Dan was gone.

"I love you, Zo." Dan whispered. Zoe just turned her head towards him and looked up at him with sad eyes.


	9. Silent Apology

**Okay, so as many of you, probably know, my dad threatened to cancel our internet and therefore, I'd be going on indefinite hiatus. Well, yesterday afternoon he decided that he's not going to cancel it, so I'm not going anywhere. YAY!**

* * *

Dan woke, cold and alone in his cell. He immediately missed the comfort of a warm body next to his own. That's when he realised that Zoe had been cradled in his arms when he fell asleep.

Panic quickly rising in his chest, Dan flew towards the bars and collided into them noisily. Again, he didn't care.

"Raphael! Os – Jacob!"

Raphael and Oscar appeared out of the shadows, looking tired and drained. Oscar was wearing his auburn wig, but it looked lopsided on his head, as if he'd hurriedly thrown it on. Noticing the panic on Dan's face, his brow furrowed. "Dan? What's wrong?"

"Did any of you take Zoe back?" Dan asked.

Raphael and Oscar exchanged a look. "No."

"She's not here."

Both of the men's eyes widened and Raphael pulled out the keys, quickly jamming the right one into the lock and twisting it. The door sprung open and Dan stepped out, his eyes focusing and becoming more determined. "Where would they take her?"

Before any of the men could answer him, they heard screaming. It wasn't the high-pitched shriek that came with tickling. This one was loud, filled with horror and fear.

And it was most definitely Zoe's.

Before Oscar or Raphael could lift a finger to stop him, Dan was running in the direction of the sound, blinded by everything except his primal instinct to protect Zoe. Oscar and Raphael barrelled after him, knowing that if they didn't, the boy would meet the death that he had convinced himself that was quickly approaching.

Oscar and Raphael followed Dan until he stumbled into the room that the screaming was coming from. The two men immediately recognised the room Zoe had been held in before she'd been moved to Dan's cell, except the room had changed. There was a big metal chair in the middle of the room, with a machine situated behind it.

Zoe was sitting in the chair, her hands chained to the armrests. She had a mess of lights on her head and she was struggling against her bonds, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Zoe." Dan breathed. He moved towards her and she looked up, watching him as he moved almost silently, his hands working at the bonds. One of them clicked open and Zoe brought her hand across, undoing the remaining one. She pulled the lights off of her head and Dan reached out, trailing his knuckles across her cheek. Zoe shut her eyes and turned her head, pressing a kiss to his skin.

"Dan." Oscar said.

Dan registered the deep shouting and he looked up, seeing the computer sitting next to the machine. He pulled Zoe out of the chair, his eyes darting frantically for whom he knew was there.

"Daniel." A voice said. Dan turned towards it, pushing Zoe behind him as Oscar, disguised as Jacob, and Raphael moved to stand beside him. Crime Minister stepped out of the shadows, her mouth twisted into a smirk.

"Jacob, grab him." Crime Minister said.

Dan glanced at Oscar, who grinned and pulled his wig off. "Not Jacob. Osc –"

"_Oscar Dixon-Halliday_." Crime Minister hissed. Before she could continue, they heard banging and shouting and Crime Minster made a loud snarling sound. "_What now_?"

Dan and Oscar grinned. "Frank's here."

Crime Minister glared at Dan, who raised his chin defiantly and glared right back at her. He'd die before she put Mastermind into Zoe.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a KORPS agent surged forward and Raphael moved. He had the same grace and control Zoe had when she fought. Zoe pressed her face into Dan's back and he reached behind him, his fingers finding hers and squeezing. Then it seemed as if a great battle had begun – MI9 soldiers came in from one door and KORPS came from the other. Abandoning his wig, Oscar jumped into the fray, followed closely by Dan and Zoe.

As if it were an unspoken agreement, Dan and Zoe stayed together – Dan acting as a distraction as Zoe took them out.

"Dan." Zoe said. They'd taken out about ten agents, her eyes filling with fear. Dan turned and saw that about ten KORPS agents were carrying flamethrowers. Dan turned back around, his eyes searching. He could see who he guessed were Carrie and Rose, Aneisha and Stella and about five MI9 agents he didn't recognise fighting. He saw flashes of Raphael and Oscar.

"Frank!" Dan yelled. Frank stood up straighter and Dan pointed to the flamethrowers. The boy glanced at Zoe, who looked back at him, absolutely terrified. Frank nodded and Dan turned fully to Zoe.

"Stella!" Frank yelled. He saw her hair as she looked up, following his gaze to the flamethrowers. Her eyes widened and she yelled at the top of her lungs, "Retreat! We got what we came for!"

Dan turned to Zoe, his hands gripping hers tightly. "Zoe, go. I'm right behind you. _Ti Amo._"

Zoe nodded and dashed off after Aneisha. Dan started after her, but then rough hands hauled him backwards, turning him around. Dan grunted and tried to push the hands away, but they wouldn't budge. He struggled against the hands that held him as his eyes lifted to face the bearded man with cruel eyes. The man smirked and Dan saw the flamethrower that he was holding, blue eyes widening.

The man pressed the end of the flamethrower against Dan's chest and Dan kept perfectly still, glaring at the man from underneath his blonde hair as the man said, "This place is going to burn. And you will burn with it, _boy_."

Dan felt his heart sink and he muttered a silent apology to Zoe.

* * *

"Where's Dan?" Aneisha asked as she and Zoe stumbled after the SWAT team along with Frank, Oscar, Carrie, Rose, Raphael and Stella.

"He's right behind us." Zoe said. Her heart felt heavy, as if it were made of lead. She somehow knew that she'd made a very bad choice, leaving Dan there. They stumbled out of the abandoned factory into the early morning light and they flopped onto the grass.

Except for Frank and Zoe.

Zoe found herself staring at the building, willing Dan to appear. His hair would be matted with sweat and dirt and he'd be tired to the point where he looked like he was about to fall over, but he would take Zoe into his arms and tell her that he loved her.

Then suddenly, the whole building exploded into flames, the roof catching on fire. Zoe imagined Dan lying in the building, unconscious and burning alive.

"Dan!" Zoe screamed. She moved forward, but before she could move more than a few steps, Oscar grabbed her by the waist, turning her away from the building. Zoe screamed and thrashed against Oscar as the better, calmer part of her whispered, He's just trying to protect you.

Aneisha watched Zoe, wrapping her arms around herself as tears welled in her eyes.

"Aneisha?" Tom asked through her headset. "What's going on? Why's Zoe screaming?"

"The factory's on fire." Aneisha said, swallowing past the lump in her throat. "And Dan's still in there."

"Oh, God." Tom whispered. He took a deep breath. "How's Zoe?"

Aneisha's gaze drifted to Zoe. Oscar was still struggling with her – trying to keep her from running inside and dragging Dan out herself. Raphael stepped towards them and started talking to Zoe in a language Aneisha couldn't understand. Aneisha couldn't even begin to fathom the pain Zoe must be feeling – she'd just lost Dan to one of two things she was scared of. What Aneisha said next felt like an understatement.

"She's losing it, Tom."

As Raphael spoke quickly in Italian to her, Zoe felt her anger just . . . go. She relaxed as tears rolled down her cheeks, but Oscar didn't release her. As she cried, she recalled what Dan had said.

_Ti amo._

_I love you._

Zoe squeezed her eyes shut as she felt her knees give. She tried to remember what the last she said to him was as she sunk to the ground. Oscar, realising that she had lost sense of everything except her own misery and pain, released her.

"Dan." Zoe moaned, her heart thundering more painfully against her ribcage with each heartbeat.

It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair.

"Zoe." A voice hummed in front of her face. Memories flashed on the insides of Zoe's closed eyelids but she couldn't hold onto any of them long enough for her to recognise what any of them were.

"Zoe." The voice said again.

_I'm going insane_, Zoe thought. The factory's on fire. _There's no way he could have survived that._

_Didn't everyone say the same about you?_ A voice in the back of her head asked. O_pen your eyes. You never know._

Zoe slowly opened her eyes, afraid that all she'd see was emptiness. Instead, she saw blue eyes, blonde hair that had turned black from all the dirt and soot that was in it, a strong jaw and a smile that made her heart melt. All the things that made up Dan.

"Dan!" Zoe cried, launching herself at him. They both crashed to the ground, Zoe lying on top of Dan as his arms wound around her waist. Zoe buried her face in Dan's neck, crying softly. Dan touched her cheek and Zoe looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. Dan bent his head and kissed her gently, his fingers tangling in Zoe's hair. He had meant for it to be gentle, sweet, but Zoe would have none of that. She had nearly lost Dan – in that moment, she didn't care for tenderness. She pressed her mouth against his and Dan made a small, pleased sound before he pulled her closer – the two of them completely oblivious to the fact that they were lying on the ground and they were surrounded by people.

"Oh my God." Aneisha said as what was happening finally sunk in. "Oh my God."

"Aneisha?!" Tom yelled down her headset, his voice thick with panic. "What's happening?"

"Dan's – alive." Aneisha said.

"What? Is he there?"

"Yeah. He is. He looks like he's been through a damn war, but he's okay."

"How do you know?"

"Would he be kissing Zoe if he wasn't?" Aneisha asked. She felt a smile tug at her lips – at least something good had come out of this.

"He's . . ." Tom trailed off and Aneisha pictured him pinching the bridge of his nose. "He's kissing Zoe. He's alive. He's alright?"

"He's fine, Tom." Aneisha said. As soon as she said it, Zoe rolled off Dan and he sat up, violent coughing making his whole body shake.

Maybe not, Aneisha thought disdainfully. She didn't tell Tom – the poor kid was probably still trying to recover from the fact that Dan was supposed to be dead but he wasn't.


	10. Miracle

**Hey guys! This is - unfortunately - the last chapter of Burning. I hope you guys have loved this story as much as I've loved writing it. I've got a new story on the way called _Doppelganger _and that one is . . . different again. I've got summary up for it up in my bio. Anyway, enjoy, and thank you to everyone who reads my stories! You guys are amazing!**

* * *

Zoe waited for twelve hours in the hospital waiting room. Although the knowledge that Dan was alive – breathing and his heart beating – Zoe couldn't get the same image out of her head, of Dan hunched over on the ground outside the factory. Not too long after that, the fire brigade had come and put out the fire. After a thorough search, they'd confirmed what was already common knowledge – Crime Minister and Mastermind were gone. Zoe knew that Steinberg had to have been there at some point – she remembered seeing the old man while she was there, although she couldn't remember when she saw him. Then the ambulance had come and taken Dan. Then Aneisha had hugged Zoe and then the both of them were crying. Aneisha's tears were born of relief while Zoe's were just a release of all her pent up emotions from the past couple of days – all the fear, stress and all the other emotions she'd been feeling since she'd woken up to the smell of alcohol and cigarettes – all released in one moment.

When they got to the hospital, Zoe was convinced that she wouldn't do anything until she saw Dan. Somehow, Aneisha convinced her to have something to eat and to drink something. By some miracle, she managed to get Zoe to sleep too. Reluctantly, the redhead curled up beside Aneisha and fell asleep. A nurse walked past and then stopped, her kind hazel eyes watching Zoe. "Do you want me to make up a bed for her?"

Aneisha shook her head. "She's waiting for her . . ." She trailed off, glancing down at Zoe. She couldn't really say 'boyfriend' because she had no proof of that. Sure, they'd kissed outside the factory, but that had been a spur-of-the-moment type of thing.

"She's waiting for her friend." Aneisha told the nurse, who shrugged and walked off. Aneisha sighed and glanced down at Zoe, who whimpered softly in her sleep as her eyelids twitched. She whimpered again. After this happened a few more times, Aneisha's tired mind finally registered what her friend was saying.

"Dan." Zoe whimpered.

Aneisha sighed and touched Zoe's shoulder lightly, so she wouldn't wake. "He'll be okay, Zo. I know he will."

Zoe's only response was to whimper Dan's name again.

When Zoe woke up about an hour later, she looked up at Aneisha, who shook her head. None of the doctors had come out to say that, you know, he was alive.

For next few hours, Zoe tried to do anything but think about Dan. It was practically impossible – every time she started to think about something else, she remembered how it had felt to kiss him, the way his mouth fit against hers, the way he held her – as if she were something precious and should be protected, but she had no doubt that he knew that she was just as strong as he was.

"How are you holding up, _Aquila_?" Raphael asked, snapping Zoe out of her reverie.

"I just want to know what's going on. I hate not knowing." Zoe replied.

"_Lupo_ is strong. You'll see." Raphael said before walking off.

"Did he seriously just call you tequila?" Aneisha asked. This earned her a small smile from Zoe.

"_Aquila_." Zoe said. "It means eagle. In Italian. _Lupo_ means wolf."

"So you're an eagle and Dan's a wolf. What does that make me?"

"Aneisha." Zoe replied. Both girls smiled.

"Since when do you speak Italian?" Aneisha asked.

"Raphael trained me at SKUL." Zoe told her. "He likes to speak in Italian so I had to learn Italian to understand him half the time."

Aneisha smiled as Tom walked towards them, sitting on the floor at Zoe's feet. Zoe placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and sighed. "How are you holding up, Tom?"

Tom shrugged. He looked as worried as Zoe felt, his brown eyes tired, but too concerned about what would happen to Dan to sleep.

A balding man with kind eyes walked out, scouring the room quickly. He walked towards Tom, Zoe, Aneisha and Frank, all seated near one another in the waiting room.

"Daniel Morgan?" The man asked. Zoe nodded and Tom tensed, bracing himself for bad news.

"He's stable. He only had minor damage to his lungs and he's left arm is burned but he got really lucky." The doctor said. "He'll live."

It felt as if a massive weight had been lifted off of Zoe's shoulders and felt as if she could cry in relief. Instead, she took a deep breath. "Can I see him?"

The doctor looked like he was about to say no, but then he noticed the look in her eyes – a look only worried girlfriends and wives wore. He simply nodded and Zoe got up, following as he walked down the hallway. He stopped in front of one certain door and pushed it open, gesturing Zoe through. "Take all the time you need."

"Thank you." Zoe said. The doctor smiled and closed the door as he walked out, leaving Zoe alone in the room with Dan. Her eyebrows drew together as she took in his appearance. He was asleep, a breathing mask covering his mouth and nose. His hair had been washed at some point – instead of being black, it had returned to its usual golden colour.

Zoe sighed heavily, sitting down in the chair beside Dan's bed. She noticed how long his eyelashes were – the blonde hairs brushing against his cheekbones lightly. She noticed that he looked younger when he was asleep – the muscles in his face more relaxed. Zoe glanced at his left arm, bandaged from his shoulder to his wrist.

"I love you, _Lupo_." Zoe whispered. She curled up on the chair, watching the rise and fall of his chest. She tried to ignore all the tubes sticking out of his hand as she fell asleep, her eyes focused on the rise and fall of his chest.

* * *

When Zoe woke up, she could feel eyes burning into the side of her face. She sighed and turned her head so she could meet Dan's eyes. He was watching her with an almost curious expression playing in the depths of his sapphire eyes. Zoe's chest tightened and she swallowed thickly, trying to force her tears back. He was safe, he was alive, so why did she still want to cry?

Zoe pulled her knees up to her chest and tried to deep, level breaths. They ended up as a sob and Zoe whimpered softly as Dan managed to pull himself into sitting position. He reached out and touched her cheek, brushing his fingertips across her cheekbone. Zoe's eyes flickered open as her hand found his, her fingers brushing across the back of his hand.

"Dan, we thought you were dead." Zoe said softly. "I saw the whole place go up in flames and you – you were still in there."

"Hey, hey." Dan said softly, brushing her tears away. "I'm okay, see? I'm alive."

"Yeah, but Dan – you nearly weren't. Your arm is burned from shoulder to wrist because KORPS want me. It's my fault."

"No, it's not." Dan said. "Zoe, none of this is your fault. It was my own stupidity that did it."

Zoe nodded as Dan's hand slipped from her cheek. She watched his eyes and asked, "What happened? How'd you get out?"

Dan's brow furrowed. "I . . . I'm not really sure. I remember that there was a guy . . . and he had a flamethrower. He burned me with it, but then I managed to give him the slip. But he did tell me . . . something . . ." He trailed off, but then his blue eyes widened.

"Daniel, what do you know?" Zoe asked, leaning forward in her chair. Dan sighed and looked back at her. "They told me about that fire . . . the one at the SKUL base."

"_I_ told you about that fire." Zoe said. "What could they tell you that I can't? I was in it. I survived it."

"That fire wasn't an accident." Dan said. "KORPS set it on purpose."

Zoe took a deep breath. "That makes sense. I mean, they're KORPS. They kill people for sport. They – they –" She broke off, tears welling in her eyes. It was one thing to know that KORPS enjoyed victimising people. It was an entirely different matter, however, when you were the one being victimised.

Dan sighed and shifted over. "Come here, Zo."

Zoe, brushing her tears away as she moved, rose from her chair and slid onto the bed beside Dan. Dan wrapped his uninjured arm around Zoe's shoulders and Zoe rested her head on Dan's shoulder.

"I love you, Dan." Zoe said softly, glancing up at him. A smile tugged at the corners of Dan's mouth and he turned his head to kiss the top of her head. Zoe's cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink and Dan smiled, his hand moving from Zoe's shoulder to her cheek, guiding her mouth to his. He pressed his mouth gently to Zoe's, his long fingers resting on her cheek. Zoe kissed back tentatively, her own delicate hands resting on Dan's chest.

"I love you." Dan murmured against Zoe's mouth. He felt her smile against his mouth and he pulled away so he could see her face. Her eyes opened and he watched as a small smile found its way to her mouth. "Oh, Dan. I'm so glad you're okay."


End file.
